November 19, 2009

Aroldis Chapman profile

With the start of free agency upon us, I thought it would be a good idea to profile the most talked about player on the market…a player that will be amongst the most sought after, but a player in which relatively little is known about. That player is Aroldis Chapman, the 21 year old left handed Cuban who defected earlier this year.

Bidding for Chapman’s services is expected to get as high as $60 million and will likely be no less than $40 million. Teams that are interested in Chapman include the Seattle Mariners, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Toronto Blue Jays, Oakland Athletics, and of course the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. I’m sure there are others, but those are the teams I’ve heard about the most.

As with most Cuban defects, the hype tends to be extremely strong and often overstated. Is that also the case with Chapman? Let’s explore…